PETA acts to block Jambbas Ranch license renewal

By Kecia Stewart

Friday

Dec 27, 2013 at 12:01 AMDec 27, 2013 at 11:02 AM

Fayetteville, N.C. — Yesterday, PETA sent a formal request to Gordon Myers, executive director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC), asking that the agency revoke or refuse to renew the wildlife-captivity licenses and the endangered-species permit belonging to James Bass, operator of Jambbas Ranch Tours, a deplorable menagerie in Cumberland County. In the request, PETA points out that North Carolina law provides that wildlife permits are supposed to be issued only to supply humane treatment to wildlife and that Bass has failed miserably to do so—in fact, he even admits that he has violated state laws aimed at protecting animals. PETA also asks the WRC to seize the endangered alligators and other animals whom the agency has jurisdiction over at the facility and offers its assistance in finding them new homes.

Following complaints and a lawsuit by PETA and others, Jambbas currently faces nearly a dozen federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations, including failure to provide adequate veterinary care on six separate occasions—including for two goats, one of whom was found dead by an inspector.

"Jambbas Ranch is a hellhole for the animals imprisoned there," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "Violating state cruelty-to-animals laws and other animal-protection laws is more than enough reason for the Wildlife Resources Commission to deny Jambbas the licenses and permits it needs to continue forcing animals to live in pain and squalor."

In October, PETA called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take action against Jambbas for several apparent violations of the AWA, including a dead rabbit locked in a cage, mounds of waste underneath wire rabbit cages, filthy water in the goats' enclosure, and raw, open wounds on a bison. Jambbas' past violations of the AWA include repeatedly failing to provide numerous animals with veterinary care, allowing bison to be swarmed by flies until their skin was so irritated that they licked it raw, and forcing potbellied pigs and goats to live in enclosures covered with waste.

PETA's complaint is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA's blog.

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